We DON’T need nationalising, insists Thames Water chief Cathryn Ross

The new Thames Water boss insisted that nationalization is not at stake, even if his plan failed to secure a £1bn lifeline.

Cathryn Ross said the £4.4bn cash pile from the troubled water supplier was ‘absolutely enough’ to cover its costs for ‘this year, next year and beyond’ – despite being on £14bn in debt fed up.

Since the unexpected departure of CEO Sarah Bentley last month, Thames Water has joined a so-called special government.

But her successor said the company was nowhere near the “nuclear” option of taxpayer bailouts.

“We are absolutely nowhere near that trigger,” Ross told the BBC.

The comments came as Thames Water, which provides water and sewage services to 15 million customers in London and the South East of England, raised £750 million from investors.

This was less than the £1 billion the company wanted. And bosses warned a further £2.5bn in aid will be needed by 2030 as it struggles to maintain its finances.

But chairman Ian Marchant hailed the £750 million lifeline as the biggest equity bailout ever seen in the UK’s water sector.

Shareholders have agreed to cough up the cash only if certain conditions are met, including “creating a business plan that supports a more focused turnaround.”

Thames Water, which is owned by a consortium of pension groups and foreign funds, has been criticized over the past year for polluting rivers and failing to repair leaking pipes.

Last week, the company was fined £3.3m for pumping millions of liters of waste water into East Sussex waterways in 2017.

But there are also mounting concerns about finances, particularly a £14bn mountain of debt that has built up as the company paid huge dividends to investors and handed bosses lucrative salaries.

Ross, who has come under scrutiny for previous experience running regulator Ofwat, admitted the debt amount was a “large amount”.

But she said the company had reached its “lowest debt burden” in a decade.

Results published in conjunction with yesterday’s fundraising showed Thames Water’s revenues rose 4 per cent to £2.3 billion last year.

But losses amounted to £82.6 million due to higher operating costs. Rising interest rates have led it to pay higher borrowing costs on its debt, coinciding with an urgent need to invest in infrastructure.

Ross and co-CEO Alastair Cochran said it was an “extremely challenging year.” They said in a statement: ‘Our network came under pressure from record temperatures, a drought and a freeze/thaw event.

At the same time, economic factors also impacted our financial results with high inflation due to rising energy and chemical prices. In short, our performance was not what we wanted. Nevertheless, we have a solid financial position.’

The government has been closely monitoring the situation for the past month, with officials on standby in case the company collapses.